Snap fastening device

ABSTRACT

A snap fastening device having particular utility for use on sailboats to attach the luff of the jib to the forestay and including a fastener body fixedly attached to the sail at one end with an open hook at the other end and a closure member in the form of a movable jaw which swivels open around a shaft fixed to the fastener body to allow the insertion and removal of the stay. The jaw is automatically locked in the closed position by a stud protruding from the fastener body and a flattened section of shaft that seats in a notch of the jaw. The jaw is forced to return to the closed and locked position by a set of springs attached to the fastener body.

United States Patent 1191 [52] U5. Cl. 24/233 [51] Int. Cl A441) 3/02 [58] Field of Search 24/233, 248, 252, 230.5, 24/232 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3.453.703 8/1969 Wilson 24/233 967,664 8/1910 Peterson 24/233 UX 944,546 12/1909 Doering 1 24/233 X 1,521,811 l/l925 Hartbauer 24/233 UX 1.760.445 5/1932 Shackelford 24/233 x 1,390.129 9/1921 Hesse .1 24/233 N 1 1'1 l- 1 ll "\1 Appl. No.: 247,736

Klein Mar. 26, 1974 1 SNAP FASTENING DEVICE 2.547.326 4/1951 Kellogg et a1. 24/233 ux [76] Inventor: f :?:i,:; g; 1 Primary Examiner-Paul R. Gilliam Attorney, Agent, or Firhf-Schatzl & l-lamrick, [22] Filed: Apr. 26, 1972 Claude A. S. Hamrick, Thomas E. Schatzel [57] ABSTRACT A snap fastening device having particular utility for use on sailboats to attach the luff of the jib to the forestay and including a fastener body fixedly attached to the sail at one end with an open hook at the other end and a closure member in the form of a movable jaw which swivels open around a shaft fixed to the fastener body to allow the insertion and removal of the stay. The jaw is automatically locked in the closed position by a stud protruding from the fastener body and a flattened section of shaft that seats in a notch of the jaw. The jaw is forced to return to the closed and locked position by a set of springs attached to the fastener body.

5 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures SNAP FASTENING DEVICE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates in general to fastening devices and more particularly to an improved snap fastening for use in attaching the jib to the forestay on a sailboat.

2. DISCUSSION OF THE PRIOR ART Jib snaps are used on most sailboats to attach a jib to the forestay. A number of jib snaps are provided on every jib, with each snap being fixedly secured to the luff of the sail at evenly spaced distances. Conventional jib snaps are built so that a spring loaded pin is used to lock the forestay inside a loop formed by the main body of the snap. The principal disadvantage associated with the use of these prior art jib snaps is that they require two hands to operate them; one to hold the main body of the snap and the other to operate the pin. This can impair the safety of the sailor, particularly when under way, since he has no hand left free to hold on to the boat. It also makes the operation of changing jibs cumbersome and slow; a very detrimental factor in yacht racing. Another drawback of some conventional jib snaps is that after prolonged exposure to the elements, the pin tends to stick inside the main body and sornetimes needs to be freed using tools and chemicals.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is therefore an important object of the present invention to provide an improved jib snap which can be easily and rapidly operated with one hand.

Another object of this invention is to provide an improved jib snap that will remain securely locked in its closed position.

Another object of this invention is to provide an improved jib snap that will not stick in the open or closed positions.

Yet another object of this invention is to provide an improved jib snap which is compact, rugged and suitable for low cost mass production.

Still further objects and advantages will appear in the more detailed descriptions given below.

In accordance with the present invention there is provided a jib snap comprised of a fastener body having two legs adapted for fixedly securing the jib snap to the luff of a jib, and an open hook portion at the opposite end closed by a movable jaw which swivels around a shaft attached to the fastener body of the jib snap. The jaw is locked in the closed position by means of a stud which protrudes from the fastener body and extends into a mating cavity in the jaw, and perhaps additionally by means of a flattened section of the shaft which lodges itself securely into a mating notch provided in the movable jaw. A set of two springs are anchored to main body; one to urge the jaw to swivel into the closed position and the other to push the jaw and the locking elements into mating engagement.

Preferred forms of the present invention are shown in the accompanying drawings wherein:

IN THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a side view of a fully assembled jib snap in accordance with the present invention, shown secured to the luff of a jib and hooked around a forestay wire;

FIG. 2 is a partially sectioned view of a jib snap showing the jaw locking mechanisms and a first spring system;

FIG. 3 is a perspective representation of part of a movable jaw showing the shaft locking mechanism;

FIG. 4 is a perspective representation of the shaft for the movable jaw;

FIG. 5 is a perspective representation of the rivet pin that secures the shaft of FIG. 4 to the fastener body of the jib snap;

FIG. 6 is a partially sectioned view of part of a jib snap showing an alternative spring system and pivot means.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Reference is now made to FIGS. 1 through 5 for a detailed description of the principal parts of this invention, their functions and the characteristics of their geometrical arrangement. Reference is made later to FIG. 6 in connection with the description of an alternative embodiment of the invention.

In FIGS. 1 and 2 the fastener body 10 of the jib snap consists essentially of a first or shank portion including means forming a clevis and a second portion forming a hook which is designed to take most of the load from the forestay 14 which, under normal operating conditions, will settle in the concave portion of the hook as shown in FIG. 1. The clevis is formed by the two legs 16 and 18 which allow the jib snap to be securely fastened to the luff of the jib by means of a clevis pin 20. Pin 20 seats between legs 16 and 18, goes through the jib eyelet 22 and is locked in place by the head of the pin and the spring ring 24 which goes through a hole at the end of the clevis pin 20 (not shown). The fastener body 10 also includes two thin walled shoulder sections 26 to 28 which extend laterally therefrom and are separated by a constant width gap. These sections provide the support and attachment points for the fixed shaft 30 and the fixed pin 32 as well as providing an enclosure for the movable jaw 34 and resilient elements or springs 36 and 38. The fastener body 10 is best suited for manufacture by casting in a metal such as bronze. The closure member represented by movable jaw 34 can likewise be a bronze casting.

In its closed position, as shown in FIG. 2, the jaw is locked in place by a first locking element in the form of a stud 40 which extends toward the pivot shaft 30 and in a direction generally tangent to the closed loop formed by body 10 and jaw 34. Stud 40 forms an inte gral part of fastener body 10 and penetrates into a second locking element formed by a mating cavity 41 as jaw 34 moves in a direction generally tangent to the closed loop. Locking is also effected by a flattened in jaw 34. Locking may also be effected by a flattened section 42 of the shaft 30 which penetrates into a mating notch provided in aperture 44 of the jaw 34 and allows motion only in the above mentioned tangential direction as jaw 34 locks into the body 10. In addition to the aforementioned notch, there is also a cylindrical portion in aperture 44 adapted to swivel around pivot means represented by a cylindrical portion of shaft 30,

which thus forms a pivot pin. The upper portion of jaw 34 also includes an oblique projection with a first camming surface 43 adapted to receive external forces F as shown in FIG. I. The lower portion of the jaw 34 includes second and third camming surfaces 45 and 47 which provide contact areas for the resilient means formed by the first spring 36 and the second spring 38. Springs 36 and 38 can be made from stainless steel spring wire. Both springs are helically wound in left hand progression and installed with their fulcrum around a pin 32. The fixed ends of springs 36 and 38 are secured to body 10 at points 49 and 51, respectively. Pin 32 is secured between wall sections 26 and 28 by its own head and a screw thread in wall section 28. Spring 36 provides the urging force for swivelling jaw 34 into the closed position, while spring 38 provides the urging force for pushing jaw 34 upwardly, i.e. in a direction transverse to shaft 30, and into engagement with the locking mechanisms.

FIGS. 3, 4 and provide a clearer representation of the swivelling and locking mechanism between shaft 30 and jaw 34. Aperture 44 in jaw 34 consists of a first cylindrical portion with an axis A that traverses jaw 34 from side to side, plus a second cylindrical portion with its axis B displaced from the axis A of the frist cylindrical portion. This second cylindrical portion extends only part way through jaw 34 as shown in FIG. 3. Aperture 44 is then completed by a notch with parallel walls cut into the solid section remaining behind the second cylindrical portion, leaving two protusions 46 and 48 within aperture 44 to form a keyhole-shaped opening. The distance between axes A and B in aperture 44 is large enough to allow for the simultaneous disengagement of stud 40 and of the flattened portion 42 of shaft 30 making possible the swivelling motion of jaw 34. The shaft 30 illustrated in FIG. 4 has flattened facing sides 42 which consists of two cutouts back to back with their flat bottoms parallel to each other so as to fit within notches 46 and 48 of aperture 44 in jaw 34. The two cutouts can also be made so that their bottoms form a wedge with its narrower end downwards and notches 46 and 48 are then shaped accordingly to provide a snug fit. For the angular positioning of the fixed shaft 30 with respect to the fastener body 10, shaft 30 includes a square 50 which mates with a square cavity in wall section 28 (not shown). To restrain shaft 30 laterally with respect to the fastener body 10, head 52 is provided on one side and the rivet pin 54 of FIG. 5 on the other. Pin 54 is preferably permanently fixed to shaft 30 after assembly of the entire jib snap.

FIG. 6 illustrates an alternative embodiment of the jib snap in which springs 36 and 38 of the configuration of FIG. 2 are replaced by resilient means in the form of a single, preferably flat, spring 55 having two independent free ends 56 and 58. This single spring is attached to the body by a rivet pin 60. The second and third camming surfaces of movable jaw 34 are modified, as shown at 57 and 59, from those of the configuration of FIG. 2, so that end 56 of the single spring provides the urging force for swivelling jaw 34 into the closed position, while portion 58 provides the urging force for pushing jaw 34 into engagement with its locking mechanisms. In this embodiment, the pivot assembly includes an elongated bearing slot 62 and pivot means in the form of a round pivot pin 64. The long dimension of slot 62 is aligned with the axis of cavity 4i. It is understood that the spring mechanism shown in FIG. 6 can be readily adapted to the jib snap configuration of FIG. 2, and that the spring mechanism of FIG. 2 can equally well be used with the jaw embodiment of FIG. 6.

When a jib snap according to the present invention is fixedly attached to the luff of a jib, hooking it on to a forestay can be accomplished using one hand by grasping the snap across its two side walls 26 and 28 and pushing it against the forestay 14 as shown in FIG. 2. This will cause the movable jaw 34 to be pushed downwardly against spring 38 releasing it from engagement with stud 40 and from the flattened portion 42 of shaft 30, thus moving from position C to position D as shown in FIG. 1, and then, in a virtually continuous motion, will cause jaw 34 to swivel around shaft 30 against spring 36 into the position marked E in FIG. I, by virtue of the moment caused by the force F exerted eccen trically around shaft 30 by the forestay 14. Once the jaw 34 has opened sufficiently to allow the passage of forestay 14 between stud 40 and jaw 34, spring 36 immediately causes the jaw 34 to swivel back into the closed position and as soon as it strikes stud 46 and the flattened portion 42 of shaft 30 reaches the position in which it can seat itself in the notch between protrusions 46 and 48, spring 38 pushes jaw 34 upwardly locking it securely in place, thus holding the forestay l4 captive in the loop formed by the fastener body it] and jaw 34.

In the simplified embodiment shown in FIG. 6, the force exerted by spring end 58 will cause the lower bearing surface 66 of slot 62 to bear against shaft 64 as it rotates back into the locking position shown. However, the camming action effected by the fourth camming surface 68 as it strikes stud 40 causes jaw 34 to move downwardly as it rotates past stud 40. When cavity 41 is aligned with stud 40, spring end 58 urges the two into mating engagement.

One hand is again sufficient to release the forestay from the jib snap. By pressing the thumb against the bottom edges of side walls 26 and 28 and placing the index finger on the first camming surface 43 ofjaw 34, a pinching force will release the jaw 34 from its locking engagement by acting against spring 38, and then swivel the jaw open against spring 36 until the inner edge 37 of jaw 34 strikes the fastener body 10, thereby allowing the jib snap to be withdrawn from the forestay while holding the jib snap between the thumb and index finger. The same procedure is applicable to the jib snap embodiment of FIG. 6 except that the function of spring 36 is taken over by spring end 56 and that of spring 38 by spring end 58. The stop for the open position is provided by rivet pin 60 when the camming sur face 59 of jaw 34 pushes spring end 56 against it.

Although it is contemplated that many modifications of the above disclosed invention will become apparent to those of skill in the art after having read this description of two preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the above disclosure is made for purposes of illustration only and in no way intended to be limiting. Accordingly, it is intended that the appended claims be interpreted as including all modifications which fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A snap fastening device, comprising;

a fastener body having a first portion including means for connecting said body to an external member, and a second portion forming a hook;

a generally L-shaped closure member having an elongated main portion and another portion extending laterally from one end of said main portion for receiving closure opening forces, said main portion being configured to mate with said body to form a closed loop when in a closed position, said another portion having one side generally facing said hook and forming a caming surface for engaging and receiving said closure opening forces from a means to which said device is to be fastened;

means coupling another end of said closure member to said body and including a pivot and guide means for restricting movement of said closure member from the closed position to an opened position via an intermediate position and vice versa, the movement of said closure member from said closed position to said intermediate position being translational and along a line passing through and radiating normal to the axis of saidpivot, and the movement from said intermediate position to said opened position being a rotational movement of said one end away from said body and about said pivot; and

resilient means for resiliently resisting the aforementioned opening movement of said closure member and tending to hold said closure member in said closed position.

2. A snap fastening device as recited in claim 1 wherein said pivot and guide means includes a keyholeshaped aperture formed in said main portion of said closure means proximate said another end and a pivot shaft affixed to said body and extending through said aperture, said aperture including a circular portion and a generally rectangular portion having facing sides extending parallel to the direction of elongation of said main portion, and said shaft having a diameter substantially equal to said circular portion and having a flattened section with a pair of opposite sides lying in planes substantially parallel to the direction of movement taken by said closure member in moving from said closed position to said intermediate position, whereby said flattened sides engage said facing sides during movement of said closure member from said closed position to said intermediate position to prevent said closure member from being rotated into said open position until it has been moved into said intermediate position.

3. A snap fastening device as recited in claim 2 wherein said hook terminates in a first locking element and said one end includes a second locking element, said first and second locking elements forming a malefemale coupling having an engaging axis aligned parallel with the direction 'of movement taken by said closure member in moving from said closed position to said intermediate position and being operative to prevent substantial torsional loading of said shaft when said closure member is in said closed position.

4. A snap fastening device as recited in claim 1 wherein said hook terminates in a first locking element, and said closure member has a second locking element at said one end for lockingly engaging said first locking element when said closure member is in said closed position.

5. A snap fastening device as recited in claim 4 wherein said first and second locking elements form a male-female coupling having an engaging axis aligned parallel with the direction of movement taken by said closure member in moving from said closed position to said intermediate position and being operative to prevent substantial torsional loading of said shaft when said closure member is in said closed position. 

1. A snap fastening device, comprising: a fastener body having a first portion including means for connecting said body to an external member, and a second portion forming a hook; a generally L-shaped closure member having an elongated main portion and another portion extending laterally from one end of said main portion for receiving closure opening forces, said main portion being configured to mate with said body to form a closed loop when in a closed position, said another portion having one side generally facing said hook and forming a caming surface for engaging and receiving said closure opening forces from a means to which said device is to be fastened; means coupling another end of said closure member to said body and including a pivot and guide means for restricting movement of said closure member from the closed position to an opened position via an intermediate position and vice versa, the movement of said closure member from said closed position to said intermediate position being translational and along a line passing through and radiating normal to the axis of said pivot, and the movement from said intermediate position to said opened position being a rotational movement of said one end away from said body and about said pivot; and resilient means for resiliently resisting the aforementioned opening movement of said closure member and tending to hold said closure member in said closed position.
 2. A snap fastening device as recited in claim 1 wherein said pivot and guide means includes a keyhole-shaped aperture formed in said main portion of said closure means proximate said another end and a pivot shaft affixed to said body and extending through said aperture, said aperture including a circular portion and a generally rectangular pOrtion having facing sides extending parallel to the direction of elongation of said main portion, and said shaft having a diameter substantially equal to said circular portion and having a flattened section with a pair of opposite sides lying in planes substantially parallel to the direction of movement taken by said closure member in moving from said closed position to said intermediate position, whereby said flattened sides engage said facing sides during movement of said closure member from said closed position to said intermediate position to prevent said closure member from being rotated into said open position until it has been moved into said intermediate position.
 3. A snap fastening device as recited in claim 2 wherein said hook terminates in a first locking element and said one end includes a second locking element, said first and second locking elements forming a male-female coupling having an engaging axis aligned parallel with the direction of movement taken by said closure member in moving from said closed position to said intermediate position and being operative to prevent substantial torsional loading of said shaft when said closure member is in said closed position.
 4. A snap fastening device as recited in claim 1 wherein said hook terminates in a first locking element, and said closure member has a second locking element at said one end for lockingly engaging said first locking element when said closure member is in said closed position.
 5. A snap fastening device as recited in claim 4 wherein said first and second locking elements form a male-female coupling having an engaging axis aligned parallel with the direction of movement taken by said closure member in moving from said closed position to said intermediate position and being operative to prevent substantial torsional loading of said shaft when said closure member is in said closed position. 